By Steve Kretzmann.
The board of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) on Monday stated that it has completed an investigation into two rail signalling tenders amounting to more than R17 billion that had been awarded to Maziya General Services.
The investigative report, said Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda, has been handed to the Department of Transport (DoT).
The board’s investigation, which is separate from one being conducted by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), came after a detailed whistleblower report was released early this year, alleging that advance payments amounting to almost R2.7 billion were fraudulently made to Maziya through five transfers during December 2023 and December 2024.
The payments were reportedly related to two tenders for rail signalling equipment in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape, amounting to R17.4 billion, allegedly without the basic bid criteria having been met.
A raid on Prasa’s offices by the Hawks on 23 July was related to ongoing investigations into alleged irregularities at the rail agency, stated chair of parliament’s Select Committee on Public Infrastructure and Minister in the Presidency Rikus Badenhorst at the time.
As chair of the select committee, Badenhorst, during a parliamentary meeting on 9 July, urged Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to report the findings of the investigation to the committee once complete. Creecy agreed to do so.
Badenhorst said he was concerned about Maziya’s involvement in large-scale state projects, such as having been contracted by the Development Bank of South Africa for demolition work on parliamentary buildings destroyed in the fire of 3 January 2022.
Maziya is also embroiled in investigations into the Independent Development Trust’s awarding it a R152 million tender to supply oxygen plants to ten hospitals, as amaBhungane reports.
But while the board has overseen allegations of corruption within Prasa’s procurement, members of the board were in September accused of being corrupt.
A report sent to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy in September, purportedly by one of the 11 Prasa board members, claimed, amongst other allegations, that tenders were being rigged to benefit particular members of the board.
After numerous efforts to get a response from Creecy’s office on the Prasa board chair’s response to the allegations, and whether the DoT would be investigating the allegations, spokesperson Collen Msibi. “The minister is still applying her mind and has sought legal advice on the matter.”
Commuter activist organisation #UniteBehind executive director Zukiswa Vuka said the DoT has constitutional and legislative obligations to exercise oversight over Prasa, “especially in matters relating to governance and procurement integrity”.
Yet, said Vuka, it seemed “the network of accountability has collapsed”.The department’s continued silence and absence of visible action regarding these serious allegations are deeply concerning,” she said.
“It suggests a failure to uphold the principles of accountability, responsiveness, and openness enshrined in the Constitution … The public deserves clear communication and decisive action, not secrecy and delay.”
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